Political polarization impacts all areas of life and society — from the economy and the environment to education and public health. And today, in one of the most polarized times in U.S. history, that is especially evident. For the nation’s top social and political scientists, the growing political divide is a subject of great interest and concern.
To further investigate this issue, the Carnegie Corporation of New York recently announced the 26 Andrew Carnegie Fellows of 2025 who will support them in building a body of research focused on political polarization — among them, Dr. Nora Kenworthy, a professor in the University of Washington Bothell’s School of Nursing & Health Studies. She is the first Carnegie fellow from the UW since the program began in 2015.
Kenworthy was selected for her proposed research project, “Public Health in Polarized Times: Finding ‘Islands of Solidarity’ for Effective Digital Public Health Campaigns in the U.S.”
“It’s rare in the social sciences to get this kind of dedication of time and resources,” Kenworthy said. “I’m just so extraordinarily grateful to have this opportunity and grateful that opportunities like this one exist for researchers like me to dig deep into pressing social problems.”
Harnessing expert brainpower
Carnegie stated in a press release that this year’s fellows are part of a three-year effort, with a commitment of up to $18 million, to support research that “seeks to understand how and why our society has become so polarized and how we can strengthen the forces of cohesion to fortify our democracy.”
Noted Dame Louise Richardson, Carnegie president, “through these fellowships, Carnegie is harnessing the unrivaled brainpower of our universities to help us to understand how our society has become so polarized. Our future grantmaking will be informed by what we learn from these scholars as we seek to mitigate the pernicious effects of political polarization.”
真人线上娱乐 fellows, who were selected through a competitive nomination process that attracted more than 300 applicants, will each be awarded $200,000 stipends over the course of the two-year fellowship to support their research. When invited to nominate a senior scholar for the award, UW Bothell Chancellor Kristin G. Esterberg selected Kenworthy.
“It was my pleasure to nominate Dr. Nora Kenworthy, who is a distinguished health and social scientist, recognized for her groundbreaking work at the intersection of politics, technology and public health,” Esterberg said. “Dr. Kenworthy’s unique training, expertise and timely research makes her an outstanding candidate for this fellowship. I am confident her work will address political polarization in the U.S. and create a greater impact on the political landscape within U.S. health care systems.”
Researching health and activism
Kenworthy has long held an interest in the intersection of public health and politics. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Williams College and master’s and doctorate degrees in Sociomedical Sciences from Columbia University. Her research in the field began across the globe in southern Africa, where since 2005 she has continued to explore the impacts of global health initiatives on diverse communities and the politics of global health governance.
When she first started researching public health in South Africa, it was during a time of both profound AIDS denialism from the government and substantial activism from patients living with HIV. Looking back, Kenworthy said, there’s a lot that can be learned from how activists prevailed that can be applied to the current political health crisis in the U.S.?
“真人线上娱乐re are moments like that in history and from other countries that can teach us a lot — not just about how certain health issues become deeply polarized,” she said, “but also how societies figure out how to move away from that polarization toward a more solidaristic politics where we can agree that these interventions are important and necessary in order for our societies to survive.”?
When the global coronavirus pandemic struck in 2020, Kenworthy experienced a political divide and denialism around a public health issue closer to home. This, too, she said, is part of what motivates her to probe deeper through her fellowship project.
“I am confident her work will address political polarization in the U.S. and create a greater impact on the political landscape within U.S. health care systems.”
UW Bothell Chancellor Kristin G. Esterberg?
Bridging the divide
Kenworthy is also interested in how technology can hurt or harm when it comes to public health. In recent years, she’s conducted research on how crowdfunding platforms are being used to cope with the enormous financial and emotional burdens of illness and debility, both in the U.S. and in global health contexts.
“Part of the reason that crowdfunding is so popular in the U.S. is not just because we love helping each other but also because we have such frayed social support systems that don’t catch people when they’re down or facing a crisis,” she said.
Political aspects of health care were also evident on crowdfunding platforms, she noted, adding that there were often judgments around insurance coverage and who was deserving, or not, of crowdfunding support.
“But there’s also a way in which experiences of profound illness or disability can really transcend politics,” she said. “If your kid is sick with cancer, you’re not necessarily thinking about politics so much as you are thinking about wanting to save them and do everything you can to help them.
“That’s part of the power of health — that it is deeply political but also has these moments that transcend politics through human experiences that we all share.”?
Seeking islands of solidarity
Over the next two years, Kenworthy will be examining existing data and research around political polarization in the public health arena. She’s especially interested in finding what she calls “islands of solidarity,” instances throughout history and around the world where societies have figured out how to move away from polarization and toward common health goals.?
Using insights from this research, she also plans to conduct a series of focus groups with Americans to better understand and identify both how and why polarization exists around specific issues as well as where there may be unexpected domains of solidarity.
She hopes to be able to offer public health practitioners and policy makers a better set of tools for understanding how to build the support they need for public health policies and messaging that can help bring people together, rather than tear them apart.
“真人线上娱乐re is a documented perception gap among people that really drives polarization,” Kenworthy said. “Meaning, we tend to perceive each other as being more polarized than we actually are, and, of course, that tends to further contribute to polarization.
“If we can try and re-connect Americans to some of our commonalities and our collective values, I think public health may be more successful in alleviating some of the deep polarization that inhibits our efforts now.”?
